A Boy Named Lassie
by PsychUOut
Summary: Shawn accidentally turns Lassie into a four year old kid. Trouble, fun, and cuteness ensues.
1. Chapter 1

A Boy Named Lassie

Disclaimer: I do not own Psych nor am I affiliated with the show or USA network. All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. I also do not own the Rubik's Cube brand.

*Spoiler Warnings for anything through Season 6*

**Chapter 1: A Little Change Never Hurt Anyone**

"Lassie look out!" Shawn Spencer yelled as a little foam ball flew across the bull pen of the police station.

The detective looked up just in time for the projectile to hit him right in the middle of the forehead with a small *smack*. "Spencer!" Carlton Lassiter yelled as he picked up the ball and stalked towards the fake psychic. Shawn quickly hid his plastic toy gun behind his back and prepared himself for the coming lecture. "Spencer what the hell?!"

"Oh, hey Lassie." He said, trying to sound innocent. "Sorry about that, I was aiming for Gus."

Lassiter glared down at him, not buying the ruse. "You were not, Guster wasn't anywhere near me. He's over behind that desk."

On cue Burton Guster popped up from behind a desk, took aim with his own toy gun and fired, hitting Shawn in the middle of the chest. "Oh yeah! I win." Gus yelled, throwing his arms over his head in a victory stance.

"What?! You do not! Lassie was distracting me, it doesn't count." Shawn whined.

Gus walked up to them and pointed a finger in his friends face, "It does count, you're just a sore loser. Besides, last time you shot me in the face while I was eating my lunch, and you said that counted."

"That was different, you should have known I was there and been ready."

"You were hiding in the bushes, you scared the crap out of me."

"Yeah… you should have known."

"Stop it!" Lassiter yelled, his jaw clenched tight in irritation. Shawn smirked, it was exactly what he was hoping for. "This is a police station, not a play land. Go somewhere else for your stupid game."

"But we're not playing a game." Shawn said with a smile. "We're practicing our police skills. See," He fired off another round into Carlton's chest. "I just shot you, you should have reacted better than that. I think someone needs to work on their police skills."

"You are not, you're playing with toys!" Lassiter yanked the gun from Shawn's hand. "You two need to grow up and stop acting like idiots."

Shawn pretended to think it over. "Nah, sounds boring. Then we'd be uptight like you and that would just suck."

He gave the pair one last heated glare before tearing the toy from Gus' hand as well and storming off. "Hey, those are ours." Shawn yelled after Lassie's retreating form.

"What do we do now?" Gus asked.

Shawn shrugged, "I don't know, that was all I had planned for the rest of the day."

"You two need to be nice to Carlton." Juliet O'Hara scolded. She appeared out of nowhere behind them making the psychic duo jump. She was shaking her head in disapproval but couldn't hide her amused smile. "He's not in a good mood today."

"When is Lassie ever in a good mood?" Shawn said with a laugh. "What's wrong now?"

Juliet sighed, losing her smile. "We hit a dead end on our case."

"Sweet, a case. It just so happens that Gus and I are free for the rest of the day." Shawn told her excitedly. "Our previous engagements have been postponed."

"Previous engagements?" Jules asked, amused.

"Lassie took our toy guns." Gus explained

"So what do you say? Would you like some help from a good looking psychic detective and his sort of good looking partner?"

"Hey!" Gus jabbed Shawn in the side with an elbow.

Juliet glanced around the station, making sure the coast was clear of her grumpy partner. "Ok, fine." She picked a folder off her desk and held it open for Shawn and Gus. "We've had a string of home robberies the last couple weeks. They come in when the families are sleeping, don't make a sound, take everything valuable, and leave without a trace."

Shawn looked over the report and crime scene photos, one thing did stand out to him. "Ah, I'm getting something Jules." Shawn's finger went straight to his temple. "I'm seeing that there were no signs of forced entry."

"That's right." Juliet said excitedly. "We have no idea how they get in, are you getting anything else Shawn?"

The fake psychic grimaced like he was in pain, "ooo sorry Jules, I lost the connection. But the spirits are hot on this one, just give us some time and I'll have something for you."

"Thank you." She said with a relieved sigh. "Just don't tell Carlton I asked for your help."

"Mums the word." Shawn told her with his fingers crossed behind his back.

"Good. I've got to go talk to the Chief about the museum theft we just finished up. I'll talk to you guys later, okay?" Juliet gave him a smile before heading into the Chief's office.

Shawn nudged his friend once she disappeared, "Let's go Gus, we've got some digging to do."

He turned quickly to head for the exit and almost ran into his father. "You better not bother those families Shawn." Henry Spencer warned, staring his son straight in the eye.

Gus jumped at the sudden appearance of the older man. "Why does everyone keep doing that?" he whined. "Do you guys get awards for sneaking up on people or something?"

Henry ignored him, "They have been through enough, they don't need you snooping around their houses just so you can have one of your psychic "visions"."

"Dad please, have a little faith." Shawn said, placing a comforting hand on his father's shoulder. "I would never do such a thing."

"Where have you been?" Henry asked Shawn when he and Gus strutted back into the station a couple hours later, knowing already exactly where they had gone.

"we went to visit the families that were robbed." Shawn answered, plopping down into a chair next to his father's desk.

"Of course you did." Henry said with a roll of his eyes, "and was it worth it?"

"Absolutely."

"Did you find anything?"

"Not a thing." Shawn sighed, "None of them were even home." It was a complete waste of time, all the families were at work. He should have known they would be, they all lived in nice houses and had good jobs. But he wanted to talk to them, something seemed fishy.

As if to make things worse, Juliet's voice sounded through bull pen. "Shawn! Hey, did you find anything? Please tell me you found something, Carlton is driving me crazy. He keeps telling me to look through the files again, to see if we missed something. Pleeease tell me you found something."

Juliet looked at him hopefully, her arms overflowing with files and evidence bags. Shawn opened his mouth to say something but nothing would come out; he didn't want to disappoint her. "Sorry Jules." He finally said after a minute.

"O'Hara!" Lassiter yelled through the station. Juliet cringed, looking like she wanted to hide under a desk. "O'Hara did you look through those files. I know there's something there that- Spencer! Guster! What are you two still doing here?!" Carlton glared at them, not giving them the chance to answer. "You better not be messing around again."

"We're not Lassie, scouts honor." Shawn held up his hand in salute.

"Well then why are you here?" He asked, still angry.

"Um," Shawn glanced at Juliet, who dramatically shook her head no. "Ok you caught me, Gus and I were going to play a game of hide and seek. Would you like to join?"

Lassiter stepped close to Shawn, seething with anger. "Spencer, I will not tolerate child's play. This is my police station and I-"

"Your police station?" Chief Karen Vick strolled from her office and approached them. "Detective Lassiter, whose police station, is this?"

"Um…it's…it's yours of course… Chief." Carlton stumbled through his words. Shawn smirked at him, quite amused at the turn of events. "I…I was just…"

"That's what I thought." Karen said with a smirk of her own. "O'Hara do you have that evidence for me?"

"Yes Chief." Juliet struggled with the items in her hand. Shawn reached out and grabbed a few to keep her from dropping anything. "Thanks Shawn."

He looked over one of the evidence bags in his hand, it was a particularly shiny one. "oooo what is this? It's shiny I like it."

"It was one of the items stolen in the museum case last week." Juliet explained. "I think it was from the Egyptian display."

Gus immediately stepped back at the mention of Egypt, "Oh no, no mummy curses for me. I barely avoided it last time. It is not getting me now."

"Oh calm down Gus you're fine." Shawn said with a roll of his eyes. He started fidgeting with the item. It was a gold cube, only about the size of a baseball. It reminded him of one of those Rubik's Cube games, he tried twisting it to see if it did anything, "What does it do?"

"It's just an old artifact Shawn. But I think it's got some kind of fountain of youth like legend around it." Juliet explained again.

"Cool." Shawn looked it over again and suddenly started shaking it to get it to do something.

Gus stepped back even further, "Shawn stop it! You're going to put a curse on us all."

"I am not." He shook the cube again.

"That's it Spencer. You're going to break it!" Lassiter tried to grab the thing from his hands.

Shawn pulled it away from the detective, "I'm not going to break it. I'm just looking."

"It's evidence not a toy! Give it here!" Carlton reached for the bag again but Shawn backed away.

"No!"

"Spencer!"

"NO!" Lassiter lunged for the bag one more time, but just before he could wrap his hand around it Shawn felt his thumb click something into place on the small artifact. The cube suddenly lit up with a bright light. Shawn and Lassiter stared down at it in a moment of horror before a beam of light of shot out from the middle, hitting Carlton in the chest, knocking him off his feet, and throwing him back into the filing cabinets. Piles of old papers and files that were stacked on top of the cabinets toppled down on the fallen detective, burying him in the avalanche.

"Carlton!" Juliet gasped, running to her partner's side. No one else moved, they all stared at Shawn in disbelief. The psychic looked down at his hands; the cube was no longer there. Now it lay at his feet, sometime during the strange flash of light Shawn had dropped the cube in surprise, shattering it into several pieces.

"Carlton!" Juliet yelled again trying to dig out her partner from the pile of papers. "Carlton, where are you?" She kept digging but couldn't seem to find him. That was strange, there weren't that many papers.

Finally a small groan came from underneath the pile. Juliet pulled the papers away but didn't really find what she was expecting. "Ow, that really hurt." Came a small, high pitched voice. Where Lassiter should have been sat a young boy, only about 4 years old. He was pale and skinny, with pitch black hair and dark, expressive eyebrows. His eyes were clenched shut with pain.

"C-Carlton?" Juliet stuttered.

Bright blue eyes opened and stared up at her. "Yeah…What? What's wrong?"

**Chapter End**


	2. Chapter 2

A Boy Named Lassie

Disclaimer: I do not own Psych nor am I affiliated with the show or USA network. All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Chapter 2: I'm Not Scared…Ok Maybe a Little**

Lassiter stared up at Juliet as she looked down on him with a worried expression. '_That's funny. She looks a lot taller all of the sudden' _he thought to himself. Must be this awful headache he had now, it was throwing him off. What the heck just happened? Spencer was going to pay for this. "Um Carlton, are you…okay?" Juliet asked again. A crowd of officers had gathered, and everyone was staring at him with the same weird expression, it was annoying.

"I'm fine!" he yelled, but stopped short when the yell came out a bit higher pitched… and squeakier… than it should have. Suddenly he realized that something else felt a bit off, for some reason all of his clothes were too big for him. He lifted his arms and saw that his dress shirt hung loosely around his shoulders and the sleeves far past his hands. "What happened to my clothes?!"

"Um, it's not your clothes that are the problem Lassie." Shawn said, stepping up next to Juliet and looking down at the confused detective.

"What? What are you talking about? Spencer, you are in so much trouble!" Carlton stood up and held his shirt on tight because his pants were also far too big for him; luckily the dress shirt fell almost to his feet. But what suddenly disturbed him the most was that, when he stood, Carlton Lassiter was only tall enough to come just past the knees of everyone that stared at him. "Wh-what's wrong with me? What did you do?" he yelled angrily at Shawn.

"Carlton, you're um…well your kind of… wait just a second, I'll show you." Juliet ran to her desk and pulled a mirror from one of the drawers; she ran back and held it down in front of Lassiter.

He let out a squeak of horror when a four year old version of himself stared back from the mirror. "Wha-…Wha-…I…" Carlton stuttered, and couldn't seem to finish his sentence.

"I told you!" Gus yelled, poking his head up from behind the desk he had dove for cover behind, "You released the mummy curse."

"It's not a mummy curse Gus." Shawn told him not taking his eyes off the tiny Lassie. "At least I don't think so…. no, it's not. If it was a mummy he would be a zombie, not a little kid."

"You don't know that Shawn."

"Mr. Spencer." The Chief said, finally coming out of her shocked stupor. "What did you do with the artifact; I'm sure we can do something to fix this…somehow."

Lassiter suddenly perked up at the thought of getting back to his normal self, "Yeah! That's perfect! There's probably a reset button or something."

"It's not a remote, Lassie." Shawn joked, keeping his hands hidden behind his back. "I'm not sure it works that way."

"Spencer, I don't care. Give it to the Chief, so she can fix you're stupid mistake."

"Um…" Shawn dropped his head and pulled out the evidence bag from behind him. Carlton's heart sank at the sight of the broken cube. "Sorry Lassie."

"Spencer, I'm going to kill you!" Lassiter lunged towards the psychic, but tripped over his oversized shirt and fell flat on his face.

"Carlton!" Juliet gasped and ran to his side.

"I'm fine." He said, quickly getting to his feet, his face turned red in embarrassment.

"Mr. Spencer, Mr. Guster in my office. O'Hara why don't you take Lassiter and find him some clothes that fit. The rest of you back to work." Vick made the order but no one moved, none of them were really sure what to do. They weren't really sure how to process what had happened. "Now!" Vick ordered again, they all wandered awkwardly for a moment before finally doing as they were told.

"Is everything okay Carlton?" Juliet yelled outside the men's room. "You don't…um…need any help do you?"

"I know how to dress myself O'Hara! Leave me alone!"

"Ok, sorry." Juliet shifted uncomfortably. She wasn't sure how to act around her tiny partner. Carlton was acting the same way he always did; he just looked like a little kid. Actually, Juliet thought he looked adorable, his dark hair and bright eyes made her grumpy partner into a really cute kid. She wouldn't dare tell him that though.

The door to the bathroom cracked open, Carlton hesitated before coming out. When he did he stood in front of Juliet wearing small khaki pants, blue tennis shoes that lit up when he walked, and a t-shirt that had a picture of a puppy wearing an oversized police cap and read '_Daddy's Little Cadet'. _"Awwwww, Carlton you look so cute." The words came out of her mouth before she even realized what she said.

Lassiter's big ears turned bright red with embarrassment. "I am not cute." He mumbled, staring down at his feet. "These clothes are humiliating, who would wear this?"

"Carlton those are kids clothes, kids wear them." she said with a laugh. "You should just be thankful Officer Nielson went shopping for his son on his lunch break."

"Oh yeah, sure. I'll have to thank him." Lassiter said sarcastically, pulling awkwardly at the puppy shirt.

Juliet rolled her eyes, but didn't stop smiling. "Come on the Chief is waiting for us." While they walked to the office Carlton kept glancing around nervously and then back down at his feet. She realized that all the officers were staring at him and whispering. Juliet knew that it was a weird situation but she felt bad for Carlton, no one liked being looked at like that. Lassiter inched closer and closer to Juliet, trying to avoid the accusing stares. Until finally he had enough and took off in a dead run, bursting through the doors of the chief's office.

Juliet jogged to catch up and shut the door behind her. Inside Shawn, Gus, Henry, and Vick were all watching Lassiter try to catch his breath after his run. No one was quite used to the mini version of the head detective. "Chief, did you find anything out?" she asked, trying to pull everyone's attention off Lassiter before he realized they were staring too.

Carlton looked up at Vick hopefully but she just shook her head, "I called the museum about the artifact, they said there's only one person that might be able to fix it. They're going to try and search him down for us."

"And…what did they say when you told them what happened?" Juliet asked

"I didn't. They probably would have thought I was crazy. We'll just have to be patient… Sorry Carlton."

Lassiter stuck his lip out in a pout, but immediately sucked it back in when he realized what he was doing. He quickly turned his attention on Shawn when the psychic let out a giggle. "Spencer, this is all your fault!" he yelled and stormed over trying to make himself threatening in front of Shawn. "You're going to pay for this!"

Shawn laughed and looked down on him, "No offense Lassie, but you're kind of a pipsqueak at the moment. What're you going to do, bite my ankles?"

Shawn looked at Gus hoping for a fist bump over his joke, but his friend just shook his head. Carlton, now angrier, reared back his foot and kicked the psychic in the shin as hard as he could. "OW!" Shawn yelled, wincing in pain and hopping on one foot. Lassiter smirked and ran back to stand next to Juliet. "Not cool Lassie." Shawn whined.

"You deserved that." Henry said, smiling in amusement. Gus nodded in agreement.

"Little brat." Shawn mumbled, rubbing his sore leg. "I didn't do it on purpose, it was an accident how was I supposed to know the thing would actually do something. But you have to admit that flash of light was pretty darn cool." Lassiter scowled at him. Shawn backed up and hid behind Gus, afraid that he was about to receive another kick. "Or not."

Juliet crouched down so that she was at eye level with her tiny partner, "Don't worry Carlton, we're going to figure this out. You'll be back to yourself in no time. Trust me, okay?" He stared at her with big blue eyes, scanning her face for any signs of doubt. She could see that he was scared, and he had every right to be, but she was going to be strong for him. Slowly, he nodded his head in response. "Good." She smiled and placed a hand on his head, ruffling his hair. When she did he looked at her in horror. "Oh, sorry." She said, realizing what she had just done. Lassiter tried to franticly straighten his hair back out, blushing again.

"I'm making sure that word of this does not leave the station. I can only imagine the problems something like this would cause." Chief Vick added. She picked up the cube, still in it's bag, and still broken. "As soon as we figure this all out, I never want to see this thing again." She sighed wearily. "But until the museum calls back, hopefully with good news, we still have work to do. How are we coming with the home robberies?"

"Nothing yet Chief." Juliet answered, straightening up. "I um…" she glanced down at Lassiter, who no longer seemed as threatening as he did before. "Shawn had a vision, so I asked for his help on the case."

"What?!" Carlton squeaked in anger. "O'Hara, I told you we don't need his help." Yup, definitely not intimidating.

"That's probably a good idea." Vick said. "We will need Mr. Spencer's help now that…well now that my head detective can't even cross the street on his own."

Shawn, Gus, and Juliet let out a loud laugh. Juliet slapped and hand over her mouth, trying to stop her laughter when Lassiter glared up at her, not at all amused. "Chief I can still work!" he yelled desperately.

Karen laughed, "I don't think so."

"This isn't fair!" he yelled with a stomp of his foot. "This isn't my fault."

Juliet thought Lassiter was actually going to start throwing a temper tantrum; maybe he was acting more like a child than she thought. But before he could do just that, Shawn interrupted. "Chief, he's right." Everyone looked at him, a bit surprised. "Lassie didn't ask for this. I think you should have Jules take the lead and we can all work on the case and keep an eye on the little guy." They all looked at Vick hopefully, while she thought it over. Juliet knew Lassiter was just going to be a pain if he was forbidden from doing any police work, she didn't want to have to deal with that. "Besides if you don't then we have to get a babysitter and we all know how expensive they can be." Shawn added.

Carlton scowled at him again, "I don't need a babysitter Spencer."

"Fine, I'll allow it. But only if you all agree to be careful, and watch him carefully." Vick finally said. Juliet breathed a sigh of relief. "But I will not allow him to carry a weapon."

Everyone nodded in agreement, except for Lassiter. "I can't have my gun." He asked, sounding like a kicked puppy.

"NO!" everyone answered at once.

A couple hours passed, and they weren't any closer to solving their case. They decided to call it a day and start fresh in the morning. Juliet volunteered to take Lassiter home with her, even against his arguments that he didn't need to be taken care of. Carlton did not like being treated like a child, and he made his point very clear. She had to fight to get him to leave the station, even though he kept falling asleep. She had to fight to get him to sit in the back of the car, where it would be safer for him. She had to fight to get him in the store, so she could buy him some more clothes that fit.

It was dark and starting to rain when they finally got to her apartment. Juliet was exhausted; she'd been able to get Lassiter to listen to her, but not without arguing the entire time. Carlton was just as difficult as ever.

"Carlton are you hungry?" she asked once they were inside.

"Yes." He answered, standing awkwardly in the middle of her living room.

She walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge, "How does a hot dog sound?"

"Fine." He answered again. He was standing still, watching her pull out the food, not really sure what else to do.

"Ok, I'll make some for us. You can watch TV if you want."

"OK." She heard the TV come on, and soon the sound of _Cops _filled the apartment. It was the quietest Lassiter had been since they left the station. She realized this was probably the reason he protested so much. He didn't like that his junior partner was taking care of him…like he was a child. Carlton was far too proud for that.

She made the hot dogs and placed them on the table with some chips. She called for Carlton but when he didn't answer she went to check on him. He had fallen asleep on the couch, clearly exhausted. Juliet gently shook him awake and had him come eat, it had been a rough day he needed some food. He only made it through about half a hotdog before falling asleep at the table. She couldn't help but smile at just how adorable he was. It seemed like he just couldn't help but act like the child he looked like.

Juliet grabbed a pillow and blanket, and set them on the crouch, making sure it was nice and comfy. She went back to the kitchen and picked up her sleeping partner in her arms, carried him to the couch, and tucked him in. Lassiter let out a small, grateful snore and turned on his side, staying fast asleep.

After cleaning up and changing into a pair of pink pajama bottoms and matching top, Juliet practically fell into her own bed. It had been such a strange, stressful day; she happily drifted off to sleep listening to the patter of rain, and the low rumble of a coming storm. Tomorrow was likely to be just the same but right now, everything seemed so peaceful.

Juliet only managed to sleep for about an hour before she felt something shake her arm. She could hear the rain outside falling heavier than before. She felt the shaking again followed by a small voice, "O'Hara." She slowly cracked her tired eyes open and found Carlton, still just a little kid, standing next to her bed. "O'Hara, are you awake?" the worried tone in his voice left her a bit concerned.

She sat up and rubbed her eyes, "What is it? What's wrong?" Juliet asked, still a bit groggy.

"O'Hara, it's storming out."

Did she miss something? "Um…ok. That's great Carlton, but you could have told me that in the morning." Juliet lay back down, wanting to just go back to sleep, but she felt Lassiter shaking her arm again. "No I mean it's… there's thunder and-and lightning."

"That's usually what it does when it storms." She said with a yawn. Juliet patted him gently on the arm. "Go back to sleep, okay." A flash of lightning suddenly lit up the dark room. In that split second she saw Lassiter's bright blue eyes grow twice their size and fear cross his face. That's when it dawned on Juliet just what was wrong. She quickly sat up in the bed, "Oh! Are you afraid of storms Carlton?"

"No." he said defensively. But the inevitable clash of thunder exposed his lie. At the loud noise Lassiter jumped almost a foot off the ground. Frightened, he crawled up on to the foot of the bed and hid under the covers. "I-I used to be," came his voice from under the blankets. "when I was younger. But I grew out of it a long time ago."

Juliet laughed and picked up the blanket revealing the frightened and embarrassed child. "Well, you are younger again." She said with a giggle. Another flash of lightning made Lassiter pull on the blanket again. She felt him jump when the thunder sounded with an extra loud crack. "Carlton, would you like to stay in here tonight?" she asked the huddled lump. There was a small movement of covers that Juliet assumed was a head nod yes.

She giggled again. Lassiter stayed where he was, curled up in a tiny ball. Juliet sat quietly by his side. She could feel him squirm after every thunder clap, but when she placed a comforting hand on his back, he quit moving so much and soon she could hear the soft, even breathing of sleep. She smiled knowing that her partner really did feel safe with her, even if he would never admit it.

**Chapter End**


	3. Chapter 3

A Boy Named Lassie

Disclaimer: I do not own Psych nor am I affiliated with the show or USA network. All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Chapter 3: Shawn the Babysitter**

Shawn bounced up the steps of the police department with Gus close behind. The sky was still a gloomy grey from the storm the night before, and the looming clouds promised more to come. But despite the dreary weather the fake psychic was in a good mood today. He planned to go talk with the families that were robbed, he was sure he would find something when he did. But first he wanted to check on his favorite detective and make sure she survived the night with Lassie.

Shawn was happy to find Juliet working hard at her desk. Lassiter's chair had been pulled up next to hers, and a couple books sat on top of it to create a booster seat for the tiny detective. The chair, however, had been left abandoned, and Juliet sat working alone. "Gooood afternoon Jules." Shawn greeted.

Juliet looked up from her papers and smiled. He quickly leaned in for a kiss. "Hey Shawn. What are you two up to today?" She asked after another smile.

"Oh just goin' out to do some good old fashioned psychic investigating." He told her. "So have you heard anything from the museum yet?"

"Yep." She said cheerfully. "They're flying in some expert to try and fix the artifact, it's just going to take a few days before he gets here. So in the meantime Lassiter has to stay the way he is." She sighed and looked down at her hands, suddenly not so cheerful anymore. "I just hope this does fix everything. Carlton was so excited at the possibility, I would hate for it not to work."

"So where is the little brat?" Shawn asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah I thought for sure he'd be working on the case." Gus added

"Well he was, but he's got the attention span of a… well of a 4 year old. He got bored and was driving me crazy so I asked Buzz to keep him busy." Juliet smiled, and started laughing at something.

Shawn and Gus just looked at each other wondering what was so funny. It was then that Buzz McNabb came speeding up the steps to the bullpen and dove for cover behind a nearby desk. The tall police officer looked up and saw them watching him with confusion. "Hey guys." He said with a bright smile as if nothing weird had just happened.

"Hey…Buzz." Gus said awkwardly. "Um, what are you doing?"

Buzz peaked around the desk to make sure the coast was clear and stood up. "Oh, just playing a game." He answered, holding up Shawn's confiscated toy gun.

"Buzz you got my toy back, thanks buddy." Shawn reached for the gun but Buzz pulled it away.

"Sorry Shawn, but I need this right now, or else I'll-" McNabb was interrupted when a foam ball bounced off the back of his head. "Oh no!" the officer exclaimed before immediately taking cover behind Juliet's desk. The detective continued her paperwork, seemingly oblivious to what was going on. Shawn and Gus were still a bit confused.

"Buzz what are you-" It was Shawn's turn to be interrupted when a second ball hit him in the nose. "Hey!" he yelled and scanned the station for his attacker. But besides Buzz trying to hide his large frame behind the desk, nothing was out of the ordinary.

Gus laughed at his friend but stopped as soon as he was hit in the face with yet another projectile from the mystery shooter. "Guys get down!" McNabb whisper yelled from his hiding spot. The psychic duo hit the deck and crawled over to sit next to Buzz.

"What's going on?" Shawn whispered, even though he wasn't really sure why he was whispering.

Answering Shawn's question, little Lassie popped out from behind the desk across from them. "Any last words dirt bags?" He said menacingly, aiming the other toy gun at them.

McNabb moved to raise his own toy weapon but before he could, Carlton fired off three consecutive shots, hitting each of them in the middle of the forehead.

"Darn, I just can't win with this guy." Buzz said getting back to his feet. "That's the third time he's beat me today."

Lassiter blew on the end of the gun and pretended to re-holster the "dangerous" weapon. "That's what you get for messing with the master."

"That's not fair Lassie." Shawn whined. "Why do you get to play with the guns and we can't?"

Carlton smirked, "Because I'm better at the game than you are Spencer."

"What!?" Shawn grabbed the gun from Buzz. "Oh, it's on."

"Be careful Shawn, he's good." Buzz said, leaving them to actually get some work done.

Lassiter and Shawn were quickly reloading their guns when Juliet hung up her phone. "Shawn, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Yeah, in a minute Jules, first I have to kick Lassie's butt in this game so he knows who the real master is."

"Shawn." She said firmly. Using the voice that usually meant she didn't have the patience at the moment.

"Oh..ok. Lassie-pants don't move, you're going down." Shawn followed her out of earshot. "What's up Jules?"

"I just got off the phone with someone that may have witnessed one of our robberies."

"That's great news." At least he thought it was great news, but Juliet looked more concerned than happy. "Is there something wrong?"

She glanced over at Lassiter and Gus, the two of them were fighting over the toy. Lassiter kept shooting Gus with it, so the taller man had taken the gun and held it out of reach for the mini detective. "I'm worried about Carlton." She finally said.

"It's okay Jules, we all are, but everything is going to be fine."

Juliet shook her head, "No that's not what I mean. I'm worried because he's acting like a kid."

"Well in case you haven't noticed, he is a kid right now."

"Exactly, he's still Carlton, but he thinks and acts like a child." She said in huff, sounding frustrated. "He's afraid of thunderstorms, did you know that?" she blurted out.

"What? Really?" Shawn laughed, "Oh, that's just too good."

Juliet's eyes got wide, probably in realization of who she just told Lassie's secret to. "I-I mean he was, when he was younger, so…so he is now…Shawn please don't tell him I told you." She glanced franticly back at Lassiter. Shawn smirked at the thought of how he could use this to his advantage. "Anyway, what I was trying to say is that I don't know if having him work on this case with me is a good idea."

"Sure it is, Lassie lives for police work, he'd probably go crazy without it."

"I know, I just…" Juliet drifted off and sighed. Shawn felt bad for her. She looked tired. She had been carrying most of the burden of taking care of Lassiter. Even though it was kind of Shawn's fault…ok it was completely his fault.

He looked over at Lassie again and sighed. He was probably going to regret doing this, but it was for Juliet. "How about I watch Lassie today?"

Her eyes immediately lit up, "Really Shawn, you would do that?"

"Sure." He answered, forcing a smile. "I did tell the Chief we would all look after him; it's not fair for you to do all the work."

Juliet seemed to think it over for a second, and her smile faded. "I don't know Shawn; you're not really, very…responsible. Are you sure you can take care of him?"

"Sure I can, how hard could it be?" He said, trying to comfort her. She bit her lip in contemplation. "Plus I'll have Gus with me." He added, trying to finish the deal.

"That's true." The smile returned to her face. That kind of hurt, but it was fair, most of the time Gus was the one taking care of Shawn. It was no wonder she wasn't too confident in his babysitting skills. "Ok, but please promise me you'll keep a close eye on him, he's been kind of difficult lately."

"Of course I will Jules. When is Lassie not difficult?" He gave her an extra bright smile.

She nodded her head in agreement, but then stopped to think for a moment, "And be nice Shawn." Juliet added with an extra threatening stare. "No playing jokes on him, he's just a kid."

Darn it, she knew him too well. "Fine." He pouted

Only a short time later, Shawn, Gus, and Lassie were riding across town in the little blue car. Carlton was pouting in the back seat because he, of course, didn't want to go with the psychic duo. He wanted to go with Juliet and do real police work, as he called it. The two of them had to practically drag Lassiter out of the station.

Gus was in the driver's seat, also pouting. "Why did you tell Juliet he could come with us?" He whispered to Shawn. "How are you going to do anything while Lassiter is here?"

"Relax Gus." Shawn whispered back. "I got this covered. It's for Juliet, okay?"

Gus let out a frustrated huff, but didn't say anything else. Shawn looked back at Lassiter; he was currently glaring out the back window, his arms crossed and his face pinched together in an angry pout. Juliet had obviously picked his clothes out for him. Carlton wore white tennis shoes with colorful stars on them, jeans, and a bright red t-shirt with a picture of a cartoon lion on it. Shawn could almost see Juliet cooing over the cute clothes, and how she had managed to convince Lassiter to wear them he would never know.

Shawn laughed at the sight of the usually gruff detective, now so small and… cute. It caught Carlton's attention; he stared at Shawn and narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "What's so funny Spencer?"

"Nothing." He laughed and turned back around in his seat. Gus pulled the car to a stop across the street from a big, white house. It belonged to the first victims of the robberies.

"What are we doing here?" Lassiter whined. "We've already talked to this family and gone over the whole crime scene. There's nothing here."

"The cops have been here, you've been here. But I, the amazing psychic detective have not. Just give me five minutes, I'll find something." Shawn gloated; he opened the door and got out.

"Fine, whatever."Carlton hopped down from the car. He started to walk across the street towards the house when Shawn reached forward and tugged him back by his shirt.

"Whoa there Lassie, you can't cross the street by yourself. You're too young." Shawn told him with a smirk.

"Leave me alone Spencer!" Lassiter yelled, trying to shake off the psychic who was still holding on to his shirt.

"He's right." Gus chipped in, "You need a grown up to cross the street." Both of them were using a voice like they were talking to a small child, and even though they were talking to a child it still was sure to annoy Lassiter.

Shawn let go of his shirt and held out his hand. "C'mon, we'll cross together."

Both men grinned down at Lassiter while he scowled back, "I don't think so." He said, turning to cross the street again. Shawn effortlessly tugged Carlton back. "Spencer!" he yelled in a high pitched squeak. "That's not funny!"

"Sure it is." Shawn said with a laugh, he held his hand back out to the angry kid. "But I'm just trying to keep you safe."

"Fine!" Lassiter grabbed Shawn's hand and quickly pulled him across the street. As soon as they hit the sidewalk he dropped the psychic's hand like it was on fire and stormed to the house.

Ok so he lied and was messing with the mini detective, Juliet couldn't possibly expect that he wouldn't. Shawn and Gus laughed the entire walk to the house only stopping when they rang the doorbell.

"Hello?" A woman answered, "Can I help you?"

"Hi my name is Shawn Spencer, psychic detective." Shawn greeted. "And this is my partner Johnny John Johnson. We were hoping to ask you some questions about the robbery you had a few weeks ago."

"You said you were a detective?" the woman asked.

"Psychic Detective."

"Right… then why do you have a little kid with you?" she asked, motioning down to Lassiter.

Shawn looked down at him too, "Oh… Oh! him, he uh… um, we found him. He's been following us all day."

"You found him? Don't you think his parents are looking for him?" she asked, sounding concerned.

"No, no probably not. So could we come in?" Shawn tried to quickly change the subject.

"Um, sure." The woman led the three of them into her house. "So what did you want to ask me?" She asked, sitting down in a large, cushy chair.

They sat on an equally cushy couch, across from the woman. Shawn glanced around the house. It had been a while since the robberies so there were no signs it had even occurred. "What exactly was stolen?" he asked.

"Almost everything we had that was worth anything." She told them with a sigh. "They even cleaned out our safe we had hidden away."

"How did they break in to that?" Gus asked.

"They didn't. They knew the combination. I don't know how, we've never told it to anyone. It just doesn't make sense." The woman's eyes started to glisten with tears.

Shawn shifted uncomfortably, "What doesn't make sense?"

"They seemed to know everything. They turned off the house alarm, they knew exactly where to find everything, and they knew the safe combination…. I always thought we were so careful, but the one of the detectives said we were irresponsible and should have taken more safety precautions… maybe he was right." Tears started to stream down her face. "I have a son." The woman continued, "What if something would have happened to him?"

Shawn picked up a tissue box from a nearby table and handed it to the sobbing woman. "Was the detective by any chance a lanky, pale, salt and pepper haired, grumpy fellow?"

"Yeah, why?" she asked, dabbing at her eyes.

"No reason." Shawn and Gus glared at Lassiter who was doing his best to look innocent.

Shawn spotted a piece of mail sitting on the end table near the couch. It was tucked away under other papers, but the top of it clearly read _Happy Start Preschool. _

"Your son is in preschool right now isn't he?" Shawn asked putting his finger to his head. "I'm seeing, happy something… Happy Start Preschool."

The woman looked at him in awe, "Oh, wow. You really are psychic, that's amazing. He is, but I don't know how much longer he'll be able to keep going."

"Why is that?" Gus asked.

"Happy Start is the best preschool in town, so it's also the most expensive. And because of the robbery, I don't know if we can afford it now."

After a few more questions Shawn decided he had everything he needed and the three said there goodbye's. Once they were outside Lassiter rolled his eyes and let out a laugh, "Well that was worth it." He said sarcastically, "We learned her son goes to preschool, wonderful job Spencer. Can we go back to the station now?"

"No, my psychic sensors are just getting warmed up. We have to go to the other houses." It was true, it hadn't been as productive as Shawn would have hoped, but he wouldn't admit that to Lassie.

One hour and two houses later, things were just as unproductive. Each family's story seemed to be that same as the first. "I'm hungry." Lassiter whined from the back. He kicked at Gus' seat, trying to get him to stop for food. "I'm hungry." He said again.

His method of annoyance was working, Gus tightened his grip on the steering wheel, clearly getting irritated, "Just hang on Lassie, we have one more house. Then we can get something." He told the impatient child.

"But I'm hungry now Guster." Carlton kicked at the seat again.

Shawn's stomach gave a low growl. "Actually I'm kind of hungry too." Gus narrowed his eyes at Shawn but gave in when his stomach let out its own growl. He pulled into the nearest fast food restaurant and ordered three happy meals, one for each of them. Lassiter contently devoured his cheeseburger and fries, and played with the little red race car that came with it. He made little puttering noises as he drove it across the back seat. Shawn tried to trade his boring blue car for Lassie's cool red one, but the detective refused to give it up.

The last house they came to was smaller than the others, but sat across from a park on the beach. "Come on Spencer, this is a waste of time." Lassiter said, getting out of the car with his new toy still in hand. "Can't we go back to the station so I can do some real police work?"

"You know what Lassie?!" Shawn yelled harshly, getting irritated after hearing that for the fourth time today. The mini version of Lassie was just as frustrating as the bigger one. But Shawn stopped short when he looked down at Lassiter; the young boy was looking at him with blue eyes that actually looked frightened at the sudden shout. Carlton quickly recovered though, doing his best to replace the frightened look with a scowl. "Uh…um you know what Lassie?" he continued "Why don't you just go and play while Gus and I do what we do."

"Oh really," Lassiter said with a smirk. "And what is it that you do, besides act like complete idiots."

"Hey." Gus said, sounding offended. "We do a lot more than that." He stopped and realized what he just said. "I mean we don't act like idiots, we solve cases."

"Yeah and a lot of your cases I might add. Well, at least the ones you can't solve, which is all of them." Shawn shot back, getting angry again.

Carlton's smirk disappeared, "You get lucky that's all." He yelled with a stomp of his foot. People passing by were starting to stare and whisper, pointing at the two grown men arguing with a four year old.

Shawn reached into his pocket and pulled out some money, "Here, take this and get yourself some ice cream or something, we'll come get you at the park when we're done and take you back to Juliet." He couldn't rid himself of the little pest soon enough, he had just about enough of mini Lassie.

"Good!" Lassiter screamed, grabbing the money and storming off to the ice cream vendor.

"Come on Gus, let's go." Shawn told his friend angrily and turned towards the house.

"Are you sure we should just leave him?" Gus asked, glancing back at Carlton.

"He's fine!" Shawn snapped. Gus stared at him, wondering why he was getting so worked up. "He's fine." He said again, softer this time. "It's Lassie after all, he can take care of himself. This is a public park anyway; there are lots of people to keep an eye on him. We'll just be a minute."

"Well yeah, but-"

"Let's go, Gus." Shawn interrupted, running the rest of the way to the house.

A man answered the door when they knocked. Shawn introduced them for the fourth time that day. They talked to him and his wife, and listened to yet another similar story. The crooks got in, knew where everything was, and knew all the passwords and combinations. Shawn sighed in frustration on their way out, but something caught his eye. Sitting on the kitchen counter was a teacher's note from Happy Start Preschool. Looking back Shawn remembered seeing a bill from the same school at the second house, and a 'My kid goes to Happy Start Preschool' bumper sticker on the car at the third house. The kids of all four families went to the same school.

Once the couple shut the door Shawn nudged Gus in the arm, "Dude, I figured it out! It's the school."

Gus gave him a confused look, "What school?"

"The kids all go to Happy Start Preschool. That can't be a coincidence. The school has to be in on it somehow, it's the Red Balloon nanny case all over again."

"Dude." Gus said excitedly, "We figured it out!" The two jumped up and down in victory. "But they don't come to the homes, how are they getting all the information from the families?"

"Come on Gus, don't ruin it." Shawn started towards the car, "We'll figure it out later. Right now we have got to tell Jules." The pair loaded into the car and drove off, more than anxious to share their new information. Shawn felt like he was forgetting something, but was too excited to remember what it was.

**Chapter End**


	4. Chapter 4

A Boy Named Lassie

Disclaimer: I do not own Psych nor am I affiliated with the show or USA network. All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Chapter 4: Lost and Forgotten**

Lassiter ate through his ice cream cone in minutes. He sat on the swings in the middle of the park waiting for the two idiots to come back. He couldn't believe that Juliet stuck him with Spencer and Guster for the day. Maybe she was punishing him… Did he do something wrong? He couldn't think of anything, he was just his usual self. But the thought made Carlton nervous; he didn't want to upset Juliet.

While he thought over what he could have possibly done to make her mad, Lassiter began to pump his legs, making the swing move back and forth. It had been a long time since he'd been on a swing, but he suddenly stopped moving when he realized what he was doing, '_Head Detectives do not play on swings.'_ He scolded himself. It was kind of fun though, he quickly scanned the park, most of the kids and families had gone home because of the returning gloomy weather that had turned the sky grey again.

No one was around to see him; it wouldn't hurt to swing a little… just for a minute. Lassiter pumped his legs again, making the swing go higher. This was always his favorite thing to do at the park when he was younger. He could spend hours just swinging back and forth. He let out a loud laugh when he got high enough to bounce out of his seat a little before falling back down.

After a while he lost track of time and wasn't really sure just how long he'd been out there. '_Spencer should be done by now,'_ he thought. He stuck out his legs to bring himself to a halt, but they were too short and just barely skidded across the top of the sand. He had to wait for his momentum to slow down and come to a stop on its own, he didn't really mind though, he really was having fun.

Once he was low enough Lassiter decided to try jumping off while the swing was still moving, he always used to enjoy doing that when he was a kid. He waited for the right moment and pushed his tiny frame off, but instead of landing on his feet like he planned, Carlton lost his balance and ended up flying face first into the unforgiving sand below.

"oooowwww." He groaned. His coordination was a little off. He pushed himself back up and felt a sharp sting. He glanced down and winced at the cut that now spread across his left hand, where he had tried to catch himself. Crap, if Juliet wasn't mad at him before, she was going to be now. Or maybe she would just be mad at Spencer…he would be okay with that.

Lassiter started walking back towards Gus' car, wiping the sand off his clothes as he went. When he finally looked up, he stopped dead in his tracks. The blue car was gone. He franticly scanned the street for any sign of the familiar vehicle. '_They're probably just playing a joke on me.' _ He told himself, trying to calm down. '_Yeah, that's it; it's just one of their moronic jokes.' _

"Spencer!" he yelled… no response. "Guster!" he yelled again, "This isn't funny!" Still nothing. "S-Spencer?" He squeaked, his heart pounded in his chest. What if they actually forgot him?

Lassiter shook his head, why was he getting so worked up? He was a detective; he could take care of himself. Carlton reached into his pocket, but the only thing he pulled out was his little toy car…no money. He didn't think he would have needed any, would a cab even pick up a four year old?

He would have to walk back to the station. Lassiter held his chin high and started walking with dignity. He could do this; he knew the streets of Santa Barbara like the back of his hand. But suddenly he stopped, realizing he was going the wrong way. He thought he knew what he was doing but now everything seemed so strange, what was wrong with him?

He turned around and decided to try the other direction, towards town. Yeah, that was a good idea; if he stayed along the beach he could probably find his way back. He didn't need Spencer, or Guster, or even Juliet, he could…. Lassiter's train of thought was interrupted when he felt rain drops on the top of his head, it started off light but grew heavier with every passing minute. His heart skipped a beat when the low rumble of thunder sounded not too far off.

He started walking faster, "I'm not scared, I'm not scared." He chanted. But a bright flash of lightning sent him off in a dead run, he was losing the battle to his childish fears.

Shawn burst through the doors of the station, happy to get out of the coming rain. He searched the station for Juliet, excited to tell her what he had found. Gus hit Shawn in the arm, motioning to the detective coming out of the Chief's office and two ran to meet her. "Hey guys." She greeted with a smile when she saw them coming, "I have news about the case."

"So do we Jules, us first." Shawn said, bouncing excitedly on his feet. "I had a vision." He said, his hands going to his head in full vision pose. "I'm seeing something…" Shawn drifted off for a moment. He was a bit distracted by Juliet; she was glancing behind them, looking for something. He did his best to continue, despite her inattention. "I see lunch boxes and toys…"

"Shawn?" Juliet tried to interrupt but he wasn't finished.

"I also see finger painting, and-"

"Shawn?"

"naptime."

"Shawn!" Juliet yelled.

He dropped his arms in a huff, "Jules, you're kind of ruining the moment." But Shawn shut his mouth quickly when he realized just how angry she looked.

"Shawn." She said through gritted teeth. "Where is Carlton?"

"Um." Shawn and Gus glanced down at the floor in between them like Lassie should have been standing right there, and then looked at each other with equal expressions of horror.

"Oh no." Gus mumbled, starting to panic. He ran a hand over his head and fidgeted nervously.

"Shawn?" He really didn't like the way she kept saying his name with complete disdain. Or the way she was staring at him, Juliet looked as if she was using every ounce of self control she had to not pull her gun on him. "Where is Carlton?" she repeated, stepping dangerously close to him.

"Um, he-he… he's back in the…uh..car?" Shawn was usually so good at lying, but the way Juliet was scowling at him made his mind go blank. "We forgot him." He finally blurted, breaking under her incriminating stare.

"WHAT!?" She yelled loud enough to catch the attention of the entire department. Shawn backed up, swearing he saw her hand move towards her gun. "Shawn you-… How could you? You promised me you would watch him!"

"I-I'm sorry Jules, we got excited and- and…" Shawn looked over at his very nervous best friend, "you can't blame this all on me, Gus was there too."

Gus froze when Juliet turned her death glare on him. "I… I didn't even want him there." Juliet stepped towards Gus, making him back up in fear. "O-ok not helping. What I meant was-"

"I don't care!" She yelled before turning her back on them and grabbing the keys off her desk, "You two. My car. NOW!" she ordered. They each followed her obediently, keeping their heads down in fear of angering the detective any further. Juliet's hand froze on the door knob when thunder roared from outside. "Oh no." She gasped; her face instantly turned form anger to worry before she threw the door open and ran to her car.

"What was that about?" Gus asked in confusion.

Shawn's own face mirrored Juliet's worry, "Lassie is afraid of thunderstorms."

Lassiter took cover under yet another picnic table, for the last ten minutes he'd been running through the rain trying to hide under anything that would provide him cover from the awful storm. His clothes were soaked through and he panted hard, completely out of breath. After all the panicked running he wasn't even sure where he was going anymore. The sidewalks were deserted of people; everyone else was smart enough to get out of the storm.

A flash of lightning lit up the sky. Carlton crouched down, wrapping his arms around his legs and tucking his head down. It was the only thing he could think of to protect himself from the coming thunder. But when it inevitably came, he jumped in fear, he always did.

Once the rumble died down Lassiter took a deep breath and hopped to his feet running for the next hiding spot. The rain pelted him hard from above and his legs were getting very tired; he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep this up.

Lassiter stopped for a moment to rest and he realized that he had run right into a familiar neighborhood. But before he could think about it any further, another lightening flash made him jump an inch off the ground. He searched for another place to hide, but when he found nothing he dropped to his familiar crouch and waited it out. He thought for sure his heart would beat right out of his chest when the thunder clashed above his head.

The thunder disappeared again and he took off running, searching for a particular house. When he found it, he bolted to the porch and repeatedly pounded at the door just as another flash lit up his frightened eyes. "I'm coming!" an irritated voice yelled from inside. Lassiter kept pounding, knowing the thunder was on its way again. "Would you cut it out, I said I was coming!" The door in front of him whipped open and Carlton dove inside.

Shawn and Gus sat cowering, condemned to the back seat of Juliet's car. Shawn had pointed Juliet in the direction of the park, but other than that; the entire ride had remained silent. When the car pulled to a stop they all jumped into the rain and searched the park for any sign of Lassiter. "Carlton!" Juliet yelled through the storm, but there was no response. "Carlton, please answer me!" she yelled desperately.

Shawn grabbed an umbrella from the car and brought it to Juliet, holding it over her head to keep the rain off. She wiped the wet hair from her face, and covered her mouth with a hand. Closing her eyes, she tried to hide just how worried she really was, "What if we don't find him?" she whispered. Shawn placed a comforting hand on her shoulder but Juliet spun around and pushed it away, "Don't." It was all she said before walking back to the car, leaving him to stand alone in the rain.

He stood where he was for a moment before finally returning to the car when an extra loud clash of thunder rang through the sky. Before he got in, something caught his eye. Sitting on the edge of the sidewalk was Lassie's happy meal toy. The poor kid must have dropped it when he took off from the park. Shawn picked up the little red car and looked it over. It made him remember Lassiter's frightened face when he yelled at him. Lassie couldn't help but be afraid; he could only imagine how he was faring all alone in the storm. '_I really messed up,' _he told himself in realization of what he had really done. Once they found the tiny detective he would definitely have to make it up to him.

Shawn climbed into the back seat when Juliet started up the car. "We're going to drive around town for awhile." She told no one in particular. She tried to sound calm, but couldn't quite hide the nervous shake in her voice. "If he left I bet that's the way he headed. And I'm calling in some officers to help us look." She got out her phone, but before she could make the call it rang in her hand. "Hello?" she answered. "Henry?" The sound of his father's name caught Shawn's attention, why would he be calling Juliet? "Henry, I'm sorry but I really don't have the time to… He is! Oh my gosh! Ok, I'll be right there."

Shawn dared to speak when she hung up the phone. "What was that about?"

"Carlton found his way to Henry's." She said happily. Both Shawn and Gus let out a loud sigh of relief, Lassie was okay. But Shawn knew they weren't out of trouble quite yet.

Juliet's car slid to a halt on the wet pavement. She jumped out into the falling rain and ran to Henry's doorstep. One last clash of thunder sounded just as she threw the door open, not even bothering to knock. "Carlton." She gasped in relief when she saw her tiny partner standing in the middle of the living room, covered in a large puffy towel. Henry knelt in front of him, trying to get the restless child to dry off. As soon as Carlton saw Juliet, relief flooded into his eyes, "O'Hara!" he squeaked, "You're here."

She knelt next to Henry and pulled Lassiter into a hug, she was a bit surprised when he didn't push away. "Carlton, are you okay?" she asked, looking him over. He felt so cold when she hugged him; hopefully it was just because he was still wet from the rain. His clothes and face were also streaked with mud, her heart filled with pity realizing he had probably fallen a couple times on his way here.

"I'm fine." He mumbled, staring down at his feet. Juliet draped the puffy towel over his head and rubbed Lassiter's soggy hair. "O'Hara!" he whined in protest, squirming under the towel.

"Carlton, you're soaking wet, you're going to catch a cold." She scolded with a laugh. Juliet was just so relieved he was okay. Who knows what could have happened to him. Henry got to his feet and disappeared up the stairs.

"Thank goodness, Lassie. You're okay." Shawn said as he and Gus finally came into the house. Juliet did her best to ignore them.

"O'Hara cut it out!" Lassiter whined again when she started wiping the mud off his face. "I'm fine!" He tried pushing her away but Juliet was not leaving his side, she was so worried about him. Carlton might think that he was still himself but she knew it wasn't true, something was very wrong with him. And for some reason Juliet felt responsible for him. Right now Lassiter was vulnerable, he couldn't protect himself so she was going to do it for him. And that meant protecting him from certain irresponsible psychics.

Juliet glared at Shawn when he came over to stand next to them. "You're not fine Lassie, you look like hell." He said, looking the tiny detective over.

"And whose fault is that?" She asked in such an icy tone it sent Shawn scurrying back over to Gus and the two sat silently down on the couch. Lassiter smiled brightly at Juliet's cold treatment of her boyfriend. He even looked over at the psychic duo and stuck out his tongue in triumph. But his joy quickly disappeared when Juliet started patting him down with the towel again.

"I tried to get him to dry off." Henry told her when he reappeared, "But I couldn't get him to sit still long enough, he just kept asking for you."

"Awwww Carlton you did." Juliet smiled when her partner's face turned bright red.

"I-I did not." He stuttered, trying to cover. "I mean, I did… because I needed a ride… that's all."

"Yeah right." Henry scoffed. He handed over some clothes to Juliet. "Here, he can change into these, they might be a little big, but at least they're dry."

She held up the blue shorts and red _Knight Rider _shirt. "Hey, those are mine." Shawn piped up from the couch. Gus elbowed him in the side but it was too late. Juliet sent a glare their way that instantly froze them on sight.

Henry glanced back and forth between Shawn and Juliet, probably wondering why the temperature in his living room just dropped to below freezing. "Shawn those clothes are from when you were six, they've been in the attic for years. I don't think you need them anymore."

"R-right, that's what I was going to say. L-Lassie needs them more than me, even if that shirt is pure awesomeness." Shawn added, making her narrow her eyes even further.

After a few moments Juliet decided it wouldn't be wise to murder someone with so many witnesses and looked back down to Lassiter. "Carlton go change into these so won't get sick."

"I am not wearing Spencer's clothes." He said in disgust before wrapping his arms around himself and shivering.

"Carlton…" she said gently, hoping to persuade him that it was much better than getting pneumonia.

"No!" he interrupted. Juliet stood to her feet and looked down on her stubborn partner. Even as a child he was proud to a fault. But for once she was the bigger of the two and, for once, Lassiter was going to do as he was told. Juliet leaned down and picked up the mini Carlton, tucking him under her arm like a football. "H-Hey!" he said in horror, squirming in her grasp. "Put me down!"

She carried him to the bathroom, set him down inside, lay the clothes in his hands, and shut the door. Shawn, Gus, and Henry all stared at her in disbelief. "What?!" she yelled in irritation, tired of dealing with difficult men. All three of them averted their gaze.

Lassiter was out of the bathroom within seconds, wearing the dry, oversized clothes. He held out the wet clothes to Juliet, not really sure what else to do and not wanting to upset her again. "Good." She praised him with a pat on the head and took the clothes.

Juliet grabbed Carlton's left hand when something caught her eye. A small gash spread across his palm, still bleeding a little. "You cut yourself!" she said, sounding a little harsher than she intended.

Lassiter hung his head low. "Yeah." He said quietly, afraid he had angered her again. "I'm sorry."

She smiled down at him, "It's okay Carlton." She said gently before leading him to the chair and sat him down.

Henry brought her a band aid and some antiseptic. "How did he end up out there anyway?" He asked.

Juliet cleaned the cut and put the band aid on it. "Ask your son." She finally said, not taking her eyes off Carlton. "He was the one that was supposed to be watching him, but forgot him at the park instead."

"You what?!" Henry directed his anger onto his son. "Shawn I can't believe that you would be so irresponsible. Actually… you know what? I can believe that." He turned back to Juliet, "What in the world would possess you to leave a child with him?" He asked, pointing an accusing finger at the unusually silent psychic.

"I am not a child!" Lassiter yelled in defense, but was left ignored.

"I don't really know why I trusted him, but clearly it was a mistake." Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Shawn getting ready to say something. But before he could, Juliet held her hand out to Lassiter. "Hey Carlton, I haven't heard any thunder in a while. What do you say we go back to my house and I'll make us some nice big sloppy joes."

A big smile came to his face, "OK!" He grabbed Juliet's hand and jumped down from the chair.

"Thank you for everything Henry." She told the elder Spencer as she walked to the door.

She heard Shawn stand up from the couch, "Jules-"

"Good night, Shawn." For the moment she did not want to hear what he had to say.

"Jules, I'm sorry." He yelled as she closed the door. Juliet knew that Shawn would never have left Lassiter on purpose. She knew it was an accident. But right now she didn't care. Right now all she could think about was Carlton, all alone in the storm. So right now, she just wanted to be mad.

**Chapter End**


	5. Chapter 5

A Boy Named Lassie

Disclaimer:I do not own Psych nor am I affiliated with the show or USA network. All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter 5: To Err is Human; to Forgive… a Possibility

The sun was bright the next morning, like most days in Santa Barbara. Shawn liked to think that it was a good sign for him. Maybe the happy, shining sun would put Juliet in a good mood and she would easily forgive him. And if that wasn't the case, Shawn came to the station bearing gifts and prepared to beg for forgiveness.

Yesterday did not go well. Not only did he lose Lassie and thoroughly anger Juliet, but his father also had to give them a ride back to Gus' car. Henry gave him an extra-long lecture about responsibility and the dangers of angering a woman, especially one you're dating. After that painful experience Shawn went home and made plans to get back into Juliet's good graces.

Instead of making their usual big entrance, the psychic duo crept quietly through the bull pen. Passersby gave them looks of sympathy and encouraging words,and Shawn understood why when they reached the detective's desk. Juliet radiated anger and irritation as she sat doing paperwork (funny, that was usually Lassiter's job). All hopes of an easy forgiveness flew out the window.

"Hey Jules." Shawn squeaked nervously. She made no indication that she even knew they were there. He slid a large box of Juliet's favorite chocolates onto the desk. "We, um, we came to apologize."

Her pen stopped moving across the paper and Juliet slowly glanced up at them. But the look she gave certainly didn't offer any encouragement. "Apologize for what Shawn?" She asked coldly.

"For what happened yesterday." He answered matter-of-factly. But when she just kept staring he had a feeling that wasn't the answer she was looking for. Shawn nudged Gus in the arm; it was his turn to try.

Gus pulled out a very large bouquet of flowers from behind his back and held them out to the detective. Juliet shifted her condemning gaze to him. "These are for the prettiest detective in all of Santa Barbara." Gus said hoping flattery might change the situation. But Juliet just kept staring, not swayed in any way. "I…I mean the prettiest detective in the whole world." He tried again, but still nothing. "I-I mean… I don't know what I mean. Shawn please help me."

"Nice try buddy." Shawn said, patting his friend on the shoulder. Much to Gus' relief Juliet shifted her gaze back to Shawn. He took a deep breath, if he wanted to fix this he would have to do something drastic, something he didn't like… he would have to tell the truth. Shawn pulled a chair next to Juliet and looked her straight in the eye. "I'm sorry Juliet." Her face softened a little when Shawn's demeanor changed. "I'm sorry for promising to watch Lassie carefully and then leaving him alone. I was frustrated with him because he… well because he's Lassiter. I didn't want to deal with him anymore so I sent him off alone and… and I forgot him. It was a mistake but that's no excuse, I should have been watching him. Gus and I are really sorry."

Juliet's eyes searched his face for any signs of deception, and even though she wouldn't have been able to see it even if he was lying, this time, Shawn was telling the truth. After seeing Lassiter soaked through from the rain and covered in mud, he felt awful about what he had done. A small smile tugged at Juliet's lips before she looked away to try and hide it, "Thank you for your honesty Shawn." She whispered before putting on an angry face again and pointing a finger at him, "But I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

Shawn smiled brightly, "Don't worry Jules, I plan to make it up to Lassie, you'll see just how serious I am. I even brought him a gift." He reached into his pocket and set down in front of her a toy was only about as big as his hand, the horse was all black and complete with a saddle and reigns. It took most of the morning (and quite a bit of Gus' money) to find, but Shawn wanted to make sure he had the perfect gift. "I know how much Lassie wanted a pony as a boy so I thought he might like this."

Juliet couldn't help but let out a small 'awww' at the toy. She picked it up and looked it over, nodding in approval, "Not bad."

"Not bad?" Shawn scoffed, taking the toy. "It's perfect. Lassie is going to love this. Where is he anyway?"

"He fell asleep in the Chief's office. He had a rough night, kept waking up because of bad dreams about thunder storms." Shawn cringed when Juliet's face flashed back to anger. He covertly slid the untouched chocolates closer to her in hopes of distraction.

Juliet rolled her eyes and went back to her paperwork. "SooooJules is it too soon to tell you what we found on the robbery case?" he asked, still eager to share the information.

She sighed but set down her pen and gave Shawn her attention, "Ok, what did you find?"

"Happy Start Preschool." He said excitedly. If Juliet was willing to listen to him it meant he was on the right track. She shook her head in confusion, "All of the families that were robbed had children that went to the same preschool."

The detective's brow furrowed, she flipped through some of the papers on her desk. "Are you sure?"

"Positive. Jules, this can't be a coincidence, I can feel it in my psychic bones."

Juliet tapped her fingers on the desk while she thought it over, "You're right, that is a bit strange." Shawn did an internal victory dance. "Do you think the school is in on it?"

"I'm not sure but I think we should definitely look into it."

"It might make sense though." Juliet said with enthusiasm. "The witness that I went to talk to, she was one of the neighbors, and she said that she saw someone entering the house on the night of the robbery. The odd thing is though; they walked right in. The school might be getting them access to the homes…somehow."

It was good to see Juliet happy again…and not currently mad at him. "So, Jules…are we…are we okay?"

She let out a deep breathand looked him in the eye, "We will be." Gus let out a breath he'd been holding; the poor man had been standing frozen, holding the flowers, since he failed to appease the detective.

Shawn smiled, leaned forward, and gave Juliet a small kiss on the cheek. "Yuck!" Shawn, Gus, and Juliet were surprised by Lassiter standing in front of the Chief's door with a look of disgust on his face. "Did you guys make up already? This sucks."

Carlton rubbed his sleepy eyes and walked up to them. "Lassie-face!" Shawn yelled and jumped to his feet to greet the tiny detective.

"What are you so happy about Spencer?" Lassiter narrowed his eyes at the psychic before turning to Juliet. "O'Hara why is he here?" He whined and pointed an accusing finger at Shawn. "He forgot me at the park remember? He…he…" Carlton's train of thought was interrupted when his eyes caught sight of the toy horse in Shawn's hand. "Wh-what is that?"

"Oh this?" Shawn held up the toy and wiggled it in front of the child's face. He couldn't help but laugh when Lassie's eyes followed it without fail. "This is just a little something for a certain little boy."

"I am not a little boy!" Carlton snapped, crossing his arms in defiance but was still watching the toy.

"Oh!" Shawn said in fake surprise, pulling it away. "Well then I guess you don't want this."

Lassiter dropped his arms, "Well, I…um. I mean, if you don't want it…I, I could take it." He kicked at the ground, looking very much like a shy little boy.

Shawn pretended to think it over, Juliet rolled her eyes. "Shawn, quit teasing him." The psychic smiled and handed over the horse. Lassiter greedily grabbed it from his hands and inspected it with a bright smile. Shawn looked over to Juliet for confirmation of a job well done, but she pointed back to Carlton with a glare that said he still had work to do.

Shawn kneeled down to get at eye level with Lassiter, who was busy with his new prize. "Listen, Lassie I… um…" He wasn't sure if he could do this, apologizing to regular Lassie was hard enough but saying he was sorry to the little kid version was just weird.

Carlton looked him over suspiciously, wondering what the psychic was doing until a wry smile came to his face in realization. "Are you going to apologize, Spencer? Oh I can't wait for this, it better be good." He said with amusement.

"Do I have to?" Shawn whined to Juliet, but she just pointed back down to Lassiter. "Fine." He turned back to little Lassie and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry." He blurted, "I'm sorry I forgot you and I'm sorry you got caught in the storm, I know you're afraid of them." Lassiter's ears turned red and he watched him angrily at the mention of his fear. It was exactly what Shawn was aiming for; he had to have some fun after all. "I'm sorry Lassie, can you forgive me?"

Carlton smirked, "No way Spencer, you suck!" he yelled and stuck his tongue out at Shawn.

"Carlton!" Juliet scolded.

Shawn was surprised but was quick to recover, "No, you suck!" He yelled, sticking out his own tongue.

"Shawn!" Juliet scolded again.

"If you won't accept my apology then you can't have the toy!" he yelled, reaching to grab the horse from Lassiter's hands.

"No it's mine!" Lassie tried to run away but before he could Shawn grabbed him around the waist and lifted him off the ground.

He held Carlton steady with one arm and tried to tug away the toy with his free hand. But Lassiter's tiny fingers held it in a vice grip. "Let go!" Shawn ordered.

"NO!"

Gus and Juliet stared in disbelief and amusement while the two grappled over the poor toy. "I think that's the closest they're going to get to making up." Gus said with a laugh, Juliet nodded in agreement a smile on her face.

"Excuse me." Shawn and Lassiter froze at the sound of the Chief Vick's irritated voice. "Last time I checked this was a police station not a playground, take it outside."

"Yes Chief." Shawn gave her a mock salute, still holding Lassiter under his arm.

"Chief, we may have a lead on our case; we were just going to check it out." Juliet told her.

"Good, it's nice to know you are actually getting some work done." She said with a smirk before disappearing back into her office.

"Put me down Spencer!" Carlton ordered, squirming in his grasp. He kicked at Shawn with his legs and still held the horse tight in his hands.

"Not until you hand over the toy."

He tried to pull it away again but Juliet quickly interrupted, "Shawn put him down." He obeyed and Carlton ran to stand next to Juliet as she gathered her things. "Come on let's go talk to that school." She held out her hand to Lassiter and Shawn was surprised when he actually held it as they walked to the door.

"Uh, Jules are we allowed to come too?" he asked, not really sure if things were back to normal yet.

She gave them a dismissive wave of her hand, "Fine, since you did have the vision you can come." Well, it was at least closer to normal. Shawn and Gus fist bumped and quickly followed after.

Gus gave Lassiter another awkward glance and shifted uncomfortably when the detective galloped his toy horse across the back seat and let out a tiny neigh. Carlton was actually enjoying his gift, even if it was from the stupid psychic.

The four of them were headed to a preschool because of some ridiculous notion of Shawn's that it could be behind the robberies. If only someone would listen to him they would realize just how ridiculous of an idea it was. But of course no one was paying any attention to the four year old, so he was forced to just go along for the ride. Although…Lassiter had to admit, a school could easily gain someone's trust to get into their house, especially something as seemingly innocent as a preschool.

Juliet drove the car along a long driveway that led to a large, elegant building. The surrounding yard was well kempt and held an equally elegant water fountain. Sounds of kids on a playground drifted from the back and a friendly sign reading 'Happy Start Preschool' greeted from the front, "Oh yeah, this place sure looks devious." Lassiter said sarcastically, reveling in the look of doubt that came across Shawn's face.

"Stop it Carlton." Juliet scolded while she shut off the car and unhooked her seatbelt, "You can't judge something by how it looks. We'll just go talk to them, see what they have to say."

"Fine." Lassiter mumbled as he took off his own seatbelt. Juliet was watching him in the rearview mirror, her eyebrows knitted together in concern. "What?" he asked, suddenly self-conscious.

"Well, I was thinking on the way here… and I think that maybe just Shawn and I should go talk to them. Bringing a little kid in with me doesn't exactly give me the authority I need for questioning."

"What!?" he squeaked, he couldn't believe she was leaving him behind again.

"Carlton you're the one that taught me how important it is to maintain an official police persona when questioning a suspect."

"Well, yeah but… it's not fair!" he yelled childishly before tugging on the door handle, but Juliethad already turned on the safety locks effectively trapping him and Gus in the back seat.

Gus suddenly realized that he was being placed on babysitting duty and franticly tugged at his own door handle. "Shawn! Shawn, this is so not cool."

"Relax buddy, we'll only be gone a minute, we'll leave the windows down and everything." The psychic smirked and climbed out of the car.

Before getting out Juliet turned around in her seat and faced Gus eye to eye. "Burton Guster if you so much as take your eyes off of him for even one second, or you leave this car, I will shoot you."

"Yes ma'am." Gus' voice hitched nervously in his throat.

Juliet hesitated for a moment. Carlton could tell she didn't want to leave him, but O'Hara was a detective and she had a case to solve, he was actually proud of her that. Finally she nodded and got out of the car. "We'll only be a minute." She reassured them. The two headed up the walkway and disappeared into the building.

His partner was looking out for him and she meant well, but it was getting annoying. He had to be part of this case; there was no way he was just going to stay in the car. He gently placed his toy horse on the seat next to him and quickly crawled between the seats to the front."Hey! Lassie!Lassiter!" Gus yelled, trying to pull him back in a panic, but the seatbelt he was still wearing held him still. "Juliet said to stay here Lassie!" he yelled again and tugged off his seatbelt.

"I am head detective!" Carlton yelled as he opened the driver's door and jumped out. "She can't tell me what to do."

He heard Gus struggling to climb through the seats behind him and eventually tumbling out of the car with a thud. "Lassie I really don't want to get shot today!" Gus jumped to his feet and gave chase as Lassiter took off for the building.

He was just about to wrap his hands around the door knob when Gus caught up and tugged him backwards, "Guster! I will kill you!" he threatened, but Gus quickly clamped his hand over Lassiter's mouth when he yelled. Juliet's threat was definitely working.

Carlton, however, wasn't giving up so easily; he batted and kicked against Gus. "Cut it out Lassie, if you promise to behave we can, um… we can watch through the window here. If not I'm perfectly capable of carrying you back to the car." Great, even Guster was treating him like a kid now, he'd hit a new low.

He pulled Lassiter to a nearby window, they could see inside to where Shawn and Juliet were standing near a reception desk. Lassiter stopped thrashing and Gus removed his hand. Juliet was impatiently tapping her shoe near the empty desk. "She's waiting?!" he yelled and was immediately shushed by Gus. "She's waiting." He said, quieter this time, "Has she not learned anything?Cops do not wait!"

"That's it," Juliet threw her arms up in a huff; "Stay here Shawn; I'm going to go find someone." Lassiter smiled as she stormed off down a hallway; maybe she had learned something from him.

Once Juliet disappeared Shawn started poking around through the papers on the desk. "What is he doing?" Carlton asked, "He shouldn't be doing that!"

"Um, maybe we should go back to the car now." Gus said, sounding nervous again but Lassiter didn't move.

A young woman with long blonde hair came out of a nearby door, making Shawn jump and stop what he was doing. "Oh!" the woman said, surprised by his presence. "I'm sorry, I was in the back with the kids, were you waiting long?"

"No, not long." Shawn gave her a friendly smile and quickly glanced back to where Juliet had disappeared.

"Can I help you with something?" The girl asked.

"Um...yes." Shawn said slowly while he thought something over. "My name is Shawn Spencer and I, uh, I have a kid."

"What!?" Lassiter squeaked, really he should have expected this from Spencer.

"I'm looking for a good school for my little boy." Shawn continued. "What can you tell me about this one?"

The woman smiled brightly, "Well Mr. Spencer you have made a wonderful choice to come to us, Happy Start is a wonderful preschool. My name is Elaine and I would be happy to help you in any way I can."

"Do you think I could have a look around?" Spencer was obviously trying to snoop some more. The fake psychic couldn't follow police procedure to save his life, he couldn't just do a simple questioning.

"Certainly." Elaine answered cheerfully. "I can take down your information and if you would like to come back with your son, I would be happy to give you a tour."

"M-my son?" Shawn asked, a bit taken aback.

"Of course, we have a strict policy of including the entire family in the whole selection process, it helps to ensure that everyone is happy with the school." She said with another smile.

"Oh…right, that makes sense. But, c'mon just between you and me can't I have just a tiny look around. My, um…wife really wants to be sure-"

Elaine frowned, "I'm sorry sir but it is our policy." She interrupted, eyeing him suspiciously. "If you and your family would like to come back together I would be happy to help…you do actually have a son, right?"

"What! Of course I do, I just…um, he can't…" Shawn had dug himself into a hole and was having trouble finding his way out.

'_Typical Spencer' _Lassiter thought to himself as he watched Shawn squirm. He smiled when the psychic couldn't seem to think up anything to save himself.

"Sir, I think you should leave." The woman said nervously.

"What? But I…" Spencer had officially lost.

He had to admit;it was very strange that all the families' children went to the same place,it would have beneficial to check out the school. Lassiter thought it over for a second, maybe there was a way he could get on this case after all. He took a deep breath and prepared himself for what he was about to do, he wasn't going to like it but it had to be done…for the sake of the case.

Carlton took off running, slipping out of Gus' grasp. He grabbed the door and threw it open. "Daddy!" He yelled as he ran towards the desk, earning him two confused looks from its occupants. He grabbed Shawn's hand and pulled at it impatiently,(using every ounce of self-control he had to not let go), he assumed that was what little kids did. "Daddy, uncle Gus said we can have ice cream when we get back if, you said it was okay! Can we please?"

Guster came through the door, looking just as confused as Shawn. "Um…uh, what?" Spencer stuttered.

"Oh you do have a son." Elaine said, cheery again. Lassiter's plan had worked.

"My son…my son, yes this is my little guy, my pride and joy." Shawn awkwardly patted Carlton on the head."He was supposed to be waiting in the car with his…uh, uncle."

"I'm sorry; you were just acting so funny. I thought that…anyway, your son is adorable."

"He is, isn't he?" Shawn cooed, pinching Lassiter's cheek. Carlton batted him away.

"And what's your name sweetheart?" the woman asked him.

Lassiter opened his mouth to answer but before he could Shawn interrupted, "Lassie! His name is Lassie." He glared angrily at the psychic.

Elaine's face turned to instant confusion, "Your son's name is…Lassie?"

"Yes, is there something wrong?"

"No, of course not. It's…it's a wonderful name." The woman put on another bright smile. "And you're his uncle?" she asked turning her attention to Gus.

"Yes." He nodded; Elaine looked him up and down but didn't bother asking the obvious question.

"Gus!" Juliet yelled, finally returning from her fruitless search, "What are you two doing in here, I told you not-"

"Honey!" Shawn interrupted her angry rant. "Honey, this is Elaine, she's going to give us a tour, just like you wanted." Juliet stared at him in confusion.

"Shawn, what-"

"Excuse me for just one second." Shawn grabbed Lassiter's arm and tugged him over to Gus and Juliet, out of earshot of Elaine. "Jules I need you to play along. We need to get a good look around this place without raising suspicion. So here's how it is, you're my wife, Lassie is our kid, and Gus is the uncle, it's just like a fun little game."

"Carlton you agreed to this?" She asked in disbelief.

Lassiter opened his mouth but was interrupted once again. "Of course he agreed, it was partly his idea, and his name is Lassie not Carlton." She rolled her eyes, "Come on Jules, please. I know how much you enjoyed playing husband and wife last time, now you get to play mommy too."

"To Lassiter." She said awkwardly. Juliet thought it over, eyeing Shawn and Carlton suspiciously."Well, it's not what I had in mind but doing this undercover might be a good idea." She still didn't sound too sure but playing along Juliet turned to Elaine and extended an arm in greeting, "Hi, sorry about that, my name is Juliet. I'm Lassie's mother."

**Chapter End**


	6. Chapter 6

A Boy Named Lassie

Disclaimer: I do not own Psych nor am I affiliated with the show or USA network. All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter 6: Lassie's First Day

"So let me get this straight." Chief Vick said with a mix of annoyance and amusement. "This school thinks that you two are married...and that Lassiter is your son?"

"Yes Chief." Juliet nodded. Vick let out a snort of laughter... at least she wasn't angry. "It kind of just happened."

"Well this is a bit strange." That was an understatement; Juliet hadn't been able to look Carlton in the eye since she'd introduced herself as his mother. The woman named Elaine had given them a tour of the school. It was a nice place; clean, well taken care of, and all the children seemed very happy. Nothing about it screamed possible criminal activity, at least not to Juliet. Shawn, however wasn't so sure.

"Chief, I'm requesting that we stay undercover." The psychic interrupted. "This place may seem clean cut on the outside but I am definitely sensing some dark juju."

Vick eyed him carefully before turning to Juliet, "O'Hara, what do you think?"

Shawn looked at her, hope shining in his eyes. But Juliet wasn't sure what to say. She hadn't seen anything suspicious but he seemed so sure. She glanced out the window of Karen's office to the bullpen. Carlton was sitting at her desk watching them anxiously. Lassiter was excited to get back on the case, to do something useful again. If he was willing to act as Shawn's son, he must be desperate.

Carlton noticed Juliet staring at him and quickly glanced away, trying to hide just how restless he was. Lassiter was acting more like a little kid, and that worried her. But maybe getting him back to what was normal, solving cases, would help him in some way. "O'Hara?" Vick asked again.

"It's the only lead we've got and I trust Shawn's instinct." He smiled at her. "I think we should stick with this."

Vick nodded but glanced out to her head detective, who was about to fall off his chair as he strained to overhear what was going on. "And how is Lassiter? Will he be okay to do this?" Gus appeared just in time to catch Carlton as he slid out of the chair. "Under normal circumstances I would never allow a child to participate in an undercover investigation, but I think it's safe to say... there is nothing normal about this situation."

"Well... Carlton isn't exactly acting like himself but he really wants to do this and I think it might be good for him. I promise that both Shawn and I well be watching him closely and if anything seems too dangerous I will not hesitate to pull the plug." The emphasis on Lassiter's safety was as much for Shawn as it was for the Chief.

He nodded in agreement, "Exactly. Besides, it's a preschool. What's the worst that could happen?"

"Alright," Vick declared, standing from her desk. "I'll allow it."

"Sweet!" Shawn ran from the office to share the good news but Juliet still had one more question.

"Chief, how are we coming with fixing the artifact?"

Vick sighed, "They should be here to look at it within the next couple of days."Karen went back to her paperwork but when Juliet didn't leave, she watched the detective with sympathy. "O'Hara I know you're worried about Lassiter but everything's going to be fine."

She slouched into the chair in front of the Chief's desk. "He's getting worse Chief, I'm afraid that if he doesn't get back to his normal self soon, then... What if it doesn't work?"

"It's going to work; you just have to have a little faith. OK?" Slowly Juliet nodded; she had a hard time feeling so sure. Vick went back to her paperwork, signaling that it was time to leave. Just before Juliet closed the door on her way out Karen spoke up again, "You're doing a good job O'Hara, I don't think Detective Lassiter would be able to get through this without you."

Juliet smiled, "Thanks Chief."

"Carlton... Carlton wake up." Juliet's voice woke Lassiter from his deep, peaceful sleep. When he didn't move she shook his shoulder for emphasis. "Carlton."

He groaned and turned over on the couch, pulling his blanket over his head. "Not yet." He grumbled.

Juliet chuckled, "Come on, you've got to get ready. You don't want to be late for your first day of school, do you?" she teased.

Lassiter groaned again, he'd almost forgotten about his undercover assignment. He was very happy to be contributing to police work again but he couldn't believe what he was doing. Playing family with Spencer and O'Hara... he must be desperate. Carlton pulled the blanket down to his nose and glared at Juliet while she smiled at him. She was far too cheery for this time in the morning. "C'mon sleepy head." she said with another laugh. "I made pancakes."

His stomach growled at the mention of food and his nose caught the scent of bacon... he loved bacon. "Fine." He tried to act nonchalant, but was easily persuaded by the indication of breakfast. He kicked off the blankets and followed Juliet to the kitchen. He climbed into a chair and waited patiently at the table.

A knock sounded at the door as Juliet placed the plate of pancakes in front of him. Lassiter happily dug in while she went to answer. "Morning Jules." Spencer's annoying voice drifted into the house. "How's the lass-man today?"

"A little grumpy." Juliet tried to whisper but Lassiter heard her loud and clear.

"Soooo normal." Shawn joked before coming into the kitchen. As soon as he saw Carlton his eyes lit up, "oooo pancakes, I love pancakes."

He sat at the other end of the table and set down a shopping bag. Lassiter narrowed his eyes and shoved another fork full of syrupy goodness into his mouth, adding to the sticky mess that was growing on his face. Shawn chuckled, "Wass so funny?" Carlton asked through a full mouth.

Shawn shook his head, "Nothin' Lassie. Love the jammies though."

Lassiter's ears turned red in embarrassment when he realized he was still wearing his horse shoe covered pajama bottoms and cowboy print t-shirt. Before he could protest, Juliet smacked the psychic in the shoulder. "Be nice." She told him before sighing and shaking her head when she looked at Lassiter. "Carlton you're a mess."

Before he even knew what was happening she was coming at him with a wet paper towel to wipe the syrup off his face. "Nooo!" he cried, pushing her away. "I can do it myself." Juliet handed him the napkin and he sloppily wiped his mouth clean before scarfing down the rest of his breakfast.

Carlton jumped down from the chair and ran to grab a clean pair of clothes, after Juliet's approval, he disappeared into the bathroom to quickly change and get ready for his new assignment. After he was dressed, he stared at his four year old self in the mirror. School was never very easy for him. From grade school to high school, kids always made fun of him for the way he looked, his skinny frame and big ears made him an easy target for bullies, and his short temper only made things worse. He wondered if this was going to be the same. How would he find the thief if he couldn't get along at school?

Lassiter shook his head, trying to rid himself of the negative thoughts. He straightened his shirt and held his head high, he was head detective; he could handle anything. He left and returned to the kitchen feeling a little better. But Shawn's goofy grin soon destroyed his good mood. "Lassie, I almost forgot. I bought you something." He held out the shopping bag to the little detective.

Carlton took it cautiously. He opened the bag, almost expecting to find something green and slimy, but instead he pulled out a small backpack with a picture of a puppy in a superman costume covering it. He stared at the gift; clearly, Spencer was making fun of him. "A superhero puppy... really?"

"Yup, isn't it cute?"

Lassiter rolled his eyes, "Whatever, can we go now?" he walked to the door and sat down to put his shoes on.

"Carlton don't you have something to say to Shawn?" Juliet crossed her arms and forced away the smile that was tugging at her lips.

Spencer smiled again and watched him expectantly. Lassiter glared at him, grabbed the annoying bag and opened the door, "Yeah, it'll do. Let's go."

Shawn clapped his hands and followed after. The three piled into the car and drove silently to the preschool. Before pulling into the driveway of the school, Juliet parked the car and turned around in her seat. She handed Carlton a small cell phone, "Make sure you hold on to this." She explained, "You call me if you have any problems... ANY at all, understand?"

"Yes O'Hara." he answered with irritation, dropping the phone in his pocket.

"I'm having Buzz drive by periodically just in case, so if you can't get a hold of me you call him."

"Fine."

"If that doesn't work, call Shawn."

"OK."

"If there's any trouble you don't handle it yourself. You call somebody, do you understand?"

"Yes." His irritation was quickly rising.

"I mean it Carlton."

"O'Hara."

"Because I know you, I know that-"

"O'Hara I get it!"

Juliet raised her hands in defeat, "Ok, sorry. I'm just worried." She bit her lip nervously but continued the drive into the school. Lassiter crawled out of the seat when the car came to a stop, dragging his new backpack behind him. He slipped his arms through the straps and stared at the brightly colored building. Other families were dropping off their children; one man was lifting his son out of a very large truck and another woman was pulling her daughter along behind her while she talked on the phone, the poor little girl was having trouble keeping up but the mother didn't seem to notice.

Lassiter heard Shawn and Juliet get out of the car and come up beside him. O'Hara grabbed his hand when he held it out to her, "Ready?" she asked, giving his hand a light squeeze. He nodded and the three walked in with the other families.

They were greeted by the familiar, smiling face of Elaine. "Good Morning." She said cheerfully. "How are the Spencers today?"

"Wonderful." Shawn said, trying to match her cheeriness. "Little Lassie here is so excited for his first day."

"Great, if you will just follow me we have some more paperwork for you to fill out." She led them to a small officer where they filled out the standard questionnaire; name, address, occupation. Shawn and Juliet had already made up different jobs that wouldn't raise any suspicion, she was a realtor and he was an ice cream store franchise owner... leave it to Spencer to pick something stupid.

Elaine happily took the papers and led them to the class Carlton would be joining, "Lassie will be with Miss Bennet, she is one of our best teachers."

The young teacher greeted them with a shake of their hands and she crouched down in front of Lassiter. "Hi there" she said to him with a smile "We were just about to start story time, would you like to join?"

Lassiter felt the eyes of the other children watching him closely. There were only about ten others in the small classroom; they sat cross-legged on brightly colored mats waiting for the teacher to start. When he didn't answer, Juliet gave him a small nudge on the back, "Go ahead." she said in encouragement. With everyone still watching him, he walked to an unoccupied green mat and sat down. Juliet gave him one last smile as they left the room with Elaine.

Miss Bennet sat on a chair in front of her audience and pulled out a large picture book. Lassiter slipped off the backpack and hugged it to his chest. He wasn't sure why he was so nervous all the sudden. This should be a piece of cake; it shouldn't bother him that he was all alone now. He squeezed the bag tighter and was surprised to feel something inside; quietly he zipped it open and pulled out a small teddy bear. A note was attached to its stomach that read '_Dear Lassie, in case you get scared give me a hug. Love, Shawn.' _He scowled down at the bear, he wasn't sure if it was a joke or not... but it did make him feel a little better.

"What's that?"

Lassiter jumped, he hadn't realized that the little girl sitting on his right had been watching him. She had suddenly gotten closer and was eyeing the bag curiously. "Nothing." he said quickly, shoving the toy back in and zipping it closed. She stared at him for a second before returning to her own spot. But her bright green eyes still watched him closely.

A blonde-haired boy sitting on the other side of him reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of half melted M&M's and offered it to Lassiter. "Want some?" He asked sincerely. Carlton's disgust was clear on his face but he shook his head no anyway. The boy shrugged and popped the whole handful into his mouth licking his fingers clean.

Lassiter scooted a little to his right away from the sticky handed boy but closer to the staring girl. He sighed; it was going to be a long day.

Shawn sat in a chair next to Juliet's desk and watched as she checked her phone again, just in case Lassie had called. It had only been the fifteenth time she checked in the hour since they had dropped Lassiter off. "He's fine." Shawn reassured her unspoken worry.

She gave him a small smile and set the phone back down. After a few minutes passed, he stood up and paced a couple times. He didn't like just sitting and waiting, and as much as he hated admitting it; he was worried too. He flopped back down in the chair but quickly jumped back out when the Chief called their names. "There was another robbery last night." She told them when they entered her office. "It was the same as the others."

"And the kids?" Shawn asked

"They went to Happy Start Preschool."

He jumped happily in place but stopped when the two women stared at him. "I knew it." He said trying to play it off cool. Where was Gus when he needed him, he would be excited too. His friend and partner decided to take the day to work at his "real" job. Boring.

"I'm convinced this is more than a coincidence." Vick added. "The school is our top priority. I want the two of you to go talk to the family; the husband woke up during the robbery last night but was attacked and knocked out. He's okay now and he may have seen something."

"Attacked?" Juliet asked with obvious worry. She thought it over for a second before turning and heading for the door. "That's it, I'm going to get Carlton, it's too dangerous. We never should have left him there."

Shawn ran in front of her, blocking her path to the door. "Wait... Jules. Everything's fine, he's fine." She glared at him, warning him to move. But Shawn stood his ground, "How mad do you think Lassie will be if you pick him up early?"

"That's really not what's important Shawn."

"Think about it Jules, Lassie is at a preschool. That's probably one of the safest places for him... even if there is a robber running around there."

Juliet thought it over for a second, she looked back at the chief who was nodding in agreement. "Fine." She finally said and pushed by Shawn. "Let's go talk to the victims and then we'll pick up Carlton."

Lassiter sat on a bench just inside the school's front doors, swinging his legs back and forth. It was time for all the kids to go home. All the others had been picked up by parents and nannies; Carlton was the only one left. Spencer and O'Hara were late.

He really didn't mind though, it gave him a chance to watch the school's faculty after hours. "I'm sure they'll be here soon, sweetheart." The receptionist, Elaine, said with a smile. She watched him with sympathy from her desk before returning to her computer. She had been nice to him, but if she called him sweetheart one more time, he might have to arrest her.

Lassiter watched as various teachers, staff, and maintenance workers wandered the small building. Any one of them could be their suspected thief. He hadn't witnessed anything suspicious so far but he wasn't about to give up. A janitor came out of a door that led to the basement, the older man noticed Lassiter staring and gave him a friendly wave. He narrowed his eyes in response, '_Suspect #1', _he thought to himself.

One of the teachers came through the front door in an angry huff and headed towards Elaine. "Miss Myer, that boyfriend of yours is outside the building. I've told you I didn't want him here, he throws cigarette butts all over the property."

Elaine stood from her desk, looking out the window, "I'm so sorry I'll go talk to him." She said apologetically and took off through the doors. Lassiter watched her out the window. Elaine stormed to him; her whole demeanor seemed to change instantly. She yelled angrily at her boyfriend. He stood leaning against a shiny red car, a lit cigarette still in hand. He barely paid any mind to his yelling girlfriend, and with a dismissive wave of his hand, he got back into the car and drove away.

The boyfriend passed Juliet's car on his way out. Lassiter jumped down from the bench and grabbed his bag. Elaine returned to the building with a bright smile on her face. "Your parents are here, sweetie. I told you they wouldn't be long." Lassiter cringed, not only at being called sweetie again, but also at Shawn and Juliet being referred to as his parents. He wasn't going to get used to that, and he didn't want to.

He gave her a tiny smile, trying to hide his discomfort and ran to meet Juliet at the car. "So how did everything go?" She asked and opened the back door for him.

"Fine." He grunted as he climbed into the seat.

"Find anything interesting?" Shawn asked.

"Maybe... it's too soon to tell." He answered with a yawn. He was so tired all the sudden.

The psychic stared at him, "Well that's helpful." He said sarcastically.

"Carlton, what happened to your arm?" Juliet sounded much more worried than she should have. He looked down at the small blue band aid on his forearm.

"It's just a cut." He said defensively.

"How did you get it?" she asked, still sounding concerned.

"I fell on the playground."

Juliet let out a breath of relief, "You need to be more careful." She chided before turning around and starting the car. "There was another robbery last night, Shawn and I went to talk to the new victims and we found out there were two robbers involved, one male and one female. They attacked the husband and..."

Juliet kept talking, Lassiter was doing his best to pay attention but sleep was starting to get the better of him. His four year old body couldn't seem to handle the day without a nap or two. He laid his head against the window and his eyes slipped close on their own, finding robbers would just have to wait.

**Chapter End **


	7. Chapter 7

A Boy Named Lassie

Disclaimer: I do not own Psych nor am I affiliated with the show or USA network. All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter 7: Somebody is in Trouble

Lassiter clutched the paper tight in his hands and hid it from view. He quickly read it over again. His teacher at Happy Start Preschool had pinned it to his shirt before he left and told him to make sure his parents got it. But as soon as he was out of sight, he tore it off and read it for himself. It was only his third day at the school and already his teacher was requesting to meet with his "parents".

Carlton was nervous about giving the note to Juliet, because it meant he must have done something wrong. He folded the paper and shoved it into his pocket before leaving the school building with the other kids.

Like the day before, Juliet and Shawn stood waiting with the other parents. They were talking with them, trying to get more information. Lassiter walked up and stood next to Juliet as she talked with another woman.

"We've doubled the security on our house." The woman was saying. "I'm not taking any chances."

"My husband and I just moved here." Juliet said, playing the part. "Isn't this a safe area to live?"

"It usually is such a wonderful place to live. And this preschool is the best in Santa Barbara. It's probably the only reason we haven't left." A little girl came running up and hugged the woman's legs. "My Jenny is going to be a doctor so she is only going to the best of schools." She said proudly, patting the girl on the head.

"Oh... that's nice." Juliet said, trying her best to sound pleased.

The woman finally caught sight of Carlton, "Is this your son?" she asked.

Juliet smiled, "Yes this is Car-... I mean Lassie."

The woman leaned down and looked him over with scrutinizing eyes. She flashed him a bright smile. "Well isn't he adorable, just look at those beautiful blue eyes." Lassiter felt nervous under her gaze, he quickly backed up, hiding himself behind Juliet. "Oh, and a bit shy." She said with a laugh, standing straight again. "Perhaps we could get the two of them together for a play date, I'm sure he and Jenny would be wonderful friends."

"Maybe." Juliet said with a nod.

The woman said her goodbyes and left for her car just as Shawn was returning from talking with some of the fathers. "Find anything?" he asked as they got into their own car.

"I don't think any of the parents have anything to do with the robberies," Juliet answered, Shawn nodded in agreement. "Nor do they know anything about them. It's got to be coming from inside the school."

"Yeah I think so too, someone that works here would have more access to information." Shawn turned in his seat and stared a Lassiter, "What do you think Lassie?"

"Makes sense." He answered without interest.

"So have you found anything yet?" Spencer asked impatiently, annoying Carlton. He probably should have something by now, but he didn't, and he didn't like being reminded.

He let out a deep sigh, "I've got my eyes on a few suspects." He lied.

"Oh really, who?"

"Ummmm... Elaine."

"Elaine? The receptionist?" Juliet asked, "Why?"

"Because she too cheery." He answered plainly, "All the kids love her, she brings in candy for them."

"So you think she's a robber, because she's too happy?" Shawn rolled his eyes and turned back around in his seat. "Typical Lassie."

"Hey!" Lassiter whined, "I'm serious."

"Carlton, someone is not guilty of a crime just because they're 'too' happy." Juliet informed with a shake of her head. Lassiter sat back in his seat with a huff, crossing his arms in anger. They weren't listening to him, again. What was the point of him even being there?

Juliet walked quickly to her desk with Shawn and Lassiter following closely after. The psychic plopped down on top of the desk while the tiny detective dropped his backpack to the floor. He was acting more grumpy than usual as he stormed off for the bathroom. "Maybe we shouldn't have dismissed his idea so fast." Juliet told Shawn with a hint of guilt in her voice.

"You mean the receptionist?" He asked, looking up from the file he was reading. "Yeah maybe, but come on, Lassie is just being Lassie. He hates anything that smiles at him."

"Maybe, but I'm going to check into it. It'll make him happy." Juliet sat down and immediately started typing at the computer. But before she could find anything, two men entered the station, catching her attention.

The men disappeared into the Chief's office. Juliet stood from her chair, she knew who they were. She quickly grabbed Carlton's hand when he was on his way back, surprising him. "What're you doing?" he squeaked. She didn't answer him but pulled him into Vick's office. Shawn followed closely behind; he knew who they were too.

"Chief!" Juliet yelled excitedly, not caring that she'd just interrupted a private meeting. "Chief are these the men we've been waiting for?"

Vick gave the detective a scolding glare for her behavior but answered with a heavy sigh. "Detective O'Hara this is Dr. Renner and his associate Mr. Brown. Dr. Renner is and archeologist and he's sure he can fix the artifact." Each man shook her hand in introduction. The first was a tall skinny man with a large, bushy mustache. The second was a bit shorter than the first.

The taller man held the broken cube in his hand, he turned it over several times before speaking, "It seems to be broken right along the lines it was made, so it shouldn't be a problem."

Juliet smiled and let out a breath of relief. She squeezed Carlton's hand in excitement, realizing she was still holding onto it. The shorter man, Mr. Brown, eyed Lassiter suspiciously before turning his attention back to Vick, "We were told that you claim this artifact actually worked." He said, the doubt clear in his voice. "I find that hard to believe."

Vick smirked, her eyes darting to Lassiter for a moment. But before she could defend herself Dr. Renner interrupted in excitement, "Yes, I too have a hard time believing your story but it is the reason we are here. To think that the legend of this artifact bringing back someone's youth could be true, it's simply fascinating." The man's eyes sparkled in wonder at the idea.

Vick grinned and motioned towards Lassiter, "Well then I would like you to meet my Head Detective." She said with a small laugh. Both men immediately focused on the small boy. Carlton took a timid step backwards under the sudden attention but Juliet gave him a small nudge forward.

She wasn't too fond of the way they glared down on him as if he was some lab experiment gone wrong, but they needed these men to believe them and get Carlton back to his normal self. The mustached man crouched down to Lassiter's level and looked him up and down. "So this is the man affected by the artifact... Amazing!" He exclaimed. "What is your name son?"

Lassiter suddenly straightened himself, trying to look taller. "Head Detective Carlton Lassiter." He squeaked. Renner laughed and stood back up, "Oh astonishing, I've heard stories like this before but never have I seen this first hand." He said with a smile. "I would just love if I could perhaps; borrow him for a day or two and run some tests. It would be such a benefit to see just how the artifact affected him."

Juliet's eyes grew wide at the thought of her partner being used as some sort of guinea pig. "NO!" she yelled a little too loud. She reached forward and tugged Carlton back behind her. "Um, no." She repeated, a little quieter this time. "If you could please just fix the artifact, we just want him back to normal."

Dr. Renner cleared his throat, "Of course, my apologies Detective. I may have gotten a little over excited." He let out a small sigh of disappointment. "Chief Vick, we will let you know as soon as we've fixed it."

Juliet watched the two men closely as they left the department. She kept a tight grip on Carlton's arm until they disappeared from the building. "O'Hara let go!" he whined, she hadn't even realized that he was trying to pull himself free.

"Oh, sorry." She let go of his arm and he stumbled backwards, making a folded piece of paper fall from his pocket. Before Carlton had realized he lost it, Shawn scooped the paper off the ground.

"What's this?" he asked as they left the Chief's office.

"H-hey, give that back." Lassiter yelled nervously. He jumped towards the paper but Shawn yanked it away and placed a hand firmly on the mini detective's head, keeping him at bay.

"What is it Lassie? Maybe a love letter to your girlfriend at school." He joked. "What does it say? 'Do you like me, check yes or no.'" Juliet let out a chuckle.

"No, it's nothing. Don't read it." Carlton yelled, pushing at Shawn's hand. The psychic's eyes scanned the paper and his smile quickly turned to a frown.

"A parent-teacher meeting? Lassie what did you do?" He asked in voice that almost sounded like the elder Spencer.

"I didn't do anything." Lassiter pouted, staring at the floor.

Juliet took the note from Shawn and read it over. Her mind began to fill with the many situations that Carlton could have gotten himself into over the past few days; an angry outburst at some poor innocent child, refusal to do what the teacher told him, or even worse, what if he had gotten into a fight. It certainly wasn't a far cry from Lassiter's usual personality. "Carlton..." She began, in an unintentionally scolding tone.

But when Lassiter looked up at her with pleading eyes, she couldn't continue. "I-I didn't do anything." He repeated meekly.

"Actually," Shawn interrupted enthusiastically "This could be a good thing. We can get in there and finally do some investigating for ourselves. Not that you're not doing a bang up job already Lassie, you know, between nap time and all that." Lassiter scowled at Shawn but was glad to be out of the fire of Juliet's scorn.

"You're right, I'll call the school right now." She plopped down at her desk with a sigh, she just couldn't wait till this case was over. Juliet just wanted things back to normal.

Shawn sat quietly in a teeny-tiny chair, at a teeny-tiny table, waiting for Miss Bennett to come back to her classroom so they could have their meeting. School had just gotten out for the day and the teacher had asked the "Spencers" to wait while she saw her students out. "You would think she would have at least one normal size chair." He complained as he fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Be quiet." Juliet scolded, but she looked just as uncomfortable next to him.

"My chair is fine." Lassiter gloated from Shawn's other side.

"That's because you're as tiny as the chair is Lassie."

Lassiter was just about to yell his comeback when Miss Bennett returned to the room. "Mr. and Mrs. Spencer, thank you so much for coming." She said as she sat down at her desk. "Lassie if you'll excuse us, I would like to talk to your parents alone for just one moment. There are some toys in the next room just waiting to be played with."

"But-" Lassiter began to protest but a stern gaze from Juliet made him slide from his chair and sulk quietly out of the room.

"Is there a problem?" Juliet asked a bit nervously.

Miss Bennett pulled some papers from her desk and nodded slowly, "Yes, but just a small one." The teacher brought a paper to the tiny desk and slid it in front of them.

Shawn looked it over, expecting the worse. But instead, he was only met with a child's drawing. In the picture were three drawn figures, a tall black-haired man, a shorter blonde haired woman, and the third was a brunette man. The brunette man, however, stood apart from the other two and inside what appeared to be a jail cell, to which the taller man held the key. "I asked all the kids to draw their biggest dream come true." Miss Bennett explained. "And this is what Lassie presented to me. This," She pointed to the brown-haired figure, "appears to be you, Mr. Spencer, in jail." She said with disgust.

And sure enough the man in jail had a label sitting under it that read "Spencer". Shawn let out a loud laugh before he could stop himself, earning him a glare from Miss Bennett, "This is no laughing matter. I am a bit worried about your son; he's also having trouble making friends here."

Shawn laughed again until he received an elbow in the side from Juliet. He straightened and did the best imitation of his own father that he could muster. "Yes Ma'am, of course. I assure you we'll be having a talk as soon as we get home, I'll set the boy straight."

"Well that's not really what I-"

"Excuse me, Miss Bennett." The receptionist, Elaine, had appeared at the classroom door, interrupting the teacher. "There is a call for you at the front desk, they said it was urgent." Elaine fidgeted nervously. Shawn watched her closely; it wasn't her usual, overly cheery demeanor. Even the fake smile that usually plagued her face was noticeably absent.

"Thank you, Elaine." Miss Bennett stood from her desk. "Please excuse me for just a moment." The teacher left the classroom, passing the nervous receptionist who remained where she stood.

A moment of awkward silence passed between them before Juliet spoke up, "Is something wrong?" She asked Elaine, giving a side glance to Shawn. She had also noticed the strange behavior and was a bit on edge.

"I, um..." she was cut off when a familiar looking man entered the room.

"Yes, there is something wrong." He said, quickly pulling out a gun and aimed it at the two of them. "I don't like liars, Detective."

Juliet jumped from her tiny chair and reached for the gun hidden in her purse. "Stop!" the man yelled and cocked the gun in his hand. Juliet obeyed, freezing in her tracks. He motioned to Elaine, who obediently grabbed the purse from Juliet's hands and pulled out the gun.

"What do you want?" Juliet asked angrily as the receptionist aimed her own gun at her.

"Not here." The man ordered. "C'mon let's go." He motioned for them to leave the classroom. Shawn and Juliet gave each other a hesitant glance. "Now!" the man yelled impatiently. Shawn followed Juliet out of the room with their two captors close behind.

For now, Shawn remained silent but his mind raced as he thought of ways to get them out of this as soon as possible. They were directed to the basement door, which was already open and waiting for them. They paused at the top of the stairs but another impatient yell told them to keep moving. Just before he descended the dark stairway, Shawn caught sight of a reflection in a nearby window. Down the hallway from which they just came, a tiny, dark-haired figure dove for cover behind a trash can. _'That's just great.' _Shawn thought to himself before he was forced down into the basement,_ ' Their only hope of rescue was the world's smallest detective._'

Chapter End


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